Introduction

Enduring Knowledge: Governments differ based on who holds power or authority.

What would happen if your school suddenly had no set hours to start and end and no set rules for students to follow? What if there were no teachers to lead class or no administrators to make decisions and lead the school? At first, the idea may sound fun, maybe even liberating. On the other hand, the goal of providing an education would be difficult, if not impossible to achieve among the likely chaos. A school without rules or teachers would be like a country without a government.

What would happen if your school suddenly had no set hours to start and end and no set rules for students to follow? What if there were no teachers to lead class or no administrators to make decisions and lead the school? At first, the idea may sound fun, maybe even liberating. On the other hand, the goal of providing an education would be difficult, if not impossible to achieve among the likely chaos. A school without rules or teachers would be like a country without a government.

Lesson Objectives

Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • identify the major functions of government.
  • identify the characteristics of major types of governments around the world.
  • compare characteristics of limited and unlimited governments, including constitutional, authoritarian, and totalitarian governments.

The above objectives correspond with the Alabama Course of Study: Government objective(s): 1.1.

This lesson incorporates the following Literacy Standards: R3, R4, R6, R7, W1, W4, and W9.


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